City Council discusses local election commission

After avoiding the topic for more than eight months, Hardeeville City Council discussed Wednesday the status of the Hardeeville Municipal Election Commission.

In March, Councilman Scott Ready filed a conflict of interest complaint against Joyce Meeks, chair of the local election commission, with the State Ethics Commission. Meeks was warned and fined $250 for voting to disqualify Ready, the lone challenger to her son-in-law, Roy Powell in the May city elections.

During a council workshop, City Manager Bob Nanni asked what council wanted to do to reform the commission.

Councilwoman Sherry Carroll inquired about the rotation of election commissioners. City Clerk Lori Pomarico said it is a six-year rotation staggered in two-year increments.

Lyndia Daniels’ term ends first, in August 2013. Daniels can decide not to continue on the commission or ask to be reappointed by council. Meeks’ term will end in August 2015 and Mae Montgomery’s in August 2017.

Currently, commission candidates fill out applications and are approved by council. Applicants must be Hardeeville residents and registered voters.

Ready wants to change the vetting process.

“I would like to see a selection process that appoints someone who is qualified and has a goal of serving the community instead of someone who has just been asked to do it,” Ready said. “Hardeeville has grown to a place where there is more than just one person who is skilled and interested in serving in these positions.”

Ready said he wants to research how Beaufort County appoints its election commission.

Councilman Sal Arzillo and Carroll agreed a new process of appointing the commissioners needs to be implemented.

Mayor Bronco Bostick said he was disappointed the council only wanted to address the process of appointing commissioners and not the dismissal of commission members.

“We’ve been terribly embarrassed this past year and it cost the city money,” Bostick said. “For two or three months, the council has talked about the broken system. We have to do something about the elected. We can’t talk about one thing, then do another.”

Bostick said if one of the commissioners’ terms is not over and that person is not doing the job correctly, the council can ask for his or her resignation.

“That is our job,” Bostick said.

“We can’t jump the gun and fire someone,” Arzillo said. “We need to work the system of how to appoint someone, then deal with (the) appointed. I’m not saying we’re not going to deal with it, but we need to find a vetting process so we can appoint the right person.”

The next step in addressing the commission issue is to study how other counties and cities appoint their commissioners. Ready plans to head the research and present it to the council.

Nanni said it could take between 60 and 90 days for the study to be completed.